Vivaldi: Concertos (Vol. 05) - Max Goberman, New York Sinfonietta

MHS V 5 ANTONIO VIVALDI liner notes

The Concerto in C major, tomo 10, is one of the three compositions in which Vivaldi employed clarinets. The circumstances that occasioned this work are not known, and exact chronological information is not available. Internal evidence, however, tends to place this concerto in Vivaldi's later period. One criterion is, of course, the use of the clarinet which appeared in the orchestra in isolated cases around 1720....The Sonata in F major, tomo 57, deviates considerably from other Vivaldian sonatas and is at the same time a far cry from the Baroque sonata as typified by Corelli, Bach and Handel...The Concerto in A major, tomo 8, is technically as well as aesthetically one of Vivaldi's finest achievements in the category of the concerto for strings. It is in fact one of the earliest pre-classical symphonies for string orchestra...The Sonata à quattro, tomo 21, bears the title Al Santo Sepolcro which indicates the devotional character of the composition. The entire Catholic world venerates the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem but only a very few were fortunate enough to make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and worship at the Holy Sepulchre...The D major Concerto, tomo 62, is a specimen of a category which Vivaldi richly cultivated. It employs only five instruments: two violins, a lute, a violoncello and the harpsichord. Why did Vivaldi call a composition for five instruments a concerto? In every day language the term concerto indicates the solo display of one or more instruments in combination with the orchestra.